Category Archives: Training

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Duathlon Success!

I spent Sunday morning competing in a ridiculously fun event. I competed in a duathlon, which consisted of a 5K run, 25K bike, and 5K run. So altogether, that’s about 6 miles of running and 16 miles of biking.

I had actually done this race last year. This year, I finished in 2 hours 17 minutes, which was 20 minutes faster than last year. w00t!

There are two other reasons why this race was exceptional this year. First, the weather was amazing. I couldn’t have hoped for better. Second, the organizers changed the bike route. It was so fun! I felt like I was 10 years old, zipping down the biggest hill by my parents’ house (underneath the train tracks). I can’t wait to do it again next year!

I hope you all had a fun weekend too! Today is rainy and I’m headed to jury duty. But the whole time I will probably be thinking about what a wonderful time I had on Sunday. 

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Fun Running Infographic

Who doesn’t love an infographic?? I saw this one about female vs. male runners, and I just had to share.


Running Music for a better running experience!

The one I don’t understand is people who don’t run year round. I live in Connecticut, and we get some pretty miserable weather. But I run every month of the year. It sucks, but if I stopped running routinely, I may never start again. Which is good! Hooray for routines!

Also I only bought one pair of shoes in 2011. Who needs more than three pairs of running shoes a year? Imagine all that waste!

Do you run? Does this capture the essence of your running experience?

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Links I Love 3/21/2011

I had a busy weekend and didn’t have my post ready this morning! But trust me – it was a great weekend.

Here are my links. Enjoy!

1) I can’t stop thinking about this post - mostly because I love cupcakes and biking. I want to bike commute someday.

2) I was able to get out this weekend and do some training for the duathlon. I am training roughly 70% of the total training program, but now that the weather is getting nice, I am looking forward to some quality time on my bike.

3) I am knitting this vest, and I love it! I want to have it done so that I can include it in my items for the Spring Palette Challenge 2011.

Happy Vernal Equinox (yesterday)! I hope your Spring is awesome so far.

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Hyannis Half results and new training

If you have been following my posts over the past couple of weeks, you may remember that I ran a half marathon this past Sunday. I wanted to recap how that went, because hey – I ran a half marathon in February! 

The race day started out well. I woke up early, got all of my things in order, and arrived at the race about 50 minutes before the start. It was in Massachusetts, so the weather was always a wild card factor. I think we really lucked out – high 20s F or low 30s F with some flurries. Loads better than rain.

The race started promptly at 10 AM.  I finished in 2 hours 29 minutes, so about 11 minutes and 24 seconds per mile.  This was certainly not any kind of record, but I am happy that 1) I finished, 2) I trained throughout the winter, and 3) I am in good shape to start training for my next race.

I want to compete in a duathlon in May. After I gave myself a few days of rest from exercise, I set up my training schedule for that event. Filling in the calendar, I realized that I should start training this week. Perfect timing! I ran today and plan on getting in some good workouts this weekend, although it might be a week or two before I can get my bike out from the snowed-in shed.

Reflecting back on the race (and how sore I was afterward), I realized that I hadn’t weight lifted enough during training. So I actually have lifted twice this week, right on schedule with my training. I forget how much I love it!  It feels so good to have strong, sore muscles.

That’s where I am at. What do you guys do to stay in shape in the winter?  Anyone want to share their training stories?  Shout it out.

Oh, and Happy Weekend!

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Who influences you?

I was running last weekend (9 miles!) for my half-marathon training.  We had pretty crappy weather: a blizzard was blowing in.  I knew I had to get the run in, so I was running outside when the snow started to fall.

And you know what?  It was amazing.

The snowflakes were beautiful.  It was peaceful since there weren’t many other people out.  I was running in the woods, and it was fun to see the squirrels and birds preparing for the storm.

But that’s not really the point of this post.  The point is: lots of people, especially non-runners, would have advised against that run.  I have heard it before – lots of rationalizations: “It’s too cold to be outside.”  ”You could just skip this run.  No big deal.”  ”It’s not safe.”

Most of this advice comes from a place of concern.  My family and friends don’t want me to get hit by a car on the road, attacked, frozen, etc.  And I appreciate that sentiment.

However, almost every runner I have ever talked to loves running in the snow.  It is so much better than running in the rain (since rain guarantees you will get wet, whereas snow tends to brush off).  And if I discuss running with people who have trained for half marathon races or longer, I hear all kinds of amazing stories.  Training in the dark.  Training in the rain.  Training in the cold.  Runners are incredibly resilient.

So whose advice should I take?

As I was running in the snow last Sunday, it was obvious to me that I had made the right choice, based on advice from other runners.

I started thinking about how people love to give advice (even about things that they don’t do), and how I let that crappy advice influence my decisions.

Going forward, I plan to only take advice from people who have achieved the things that I want to achieve in life.  It is the new year, and everyone is making resolutions.  As I think about the things that I want to improve in 2011, I look forward to learning and implementing wisdom from people who are living lives like the one I want to be living.  Here’s a quick list of who they are:

Robyn Devine

Tammy Strobel

Katy Wonk-Stanley

Karol Gadja

Francine Jay

Everett Bogue

Have you ever acted on awesome advice?  How did that go?

Also coincidentally, check out this post from yesterday about focusing on the negative rather than the positive.

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My idea of a good time on a Sunday

Yesterday afternoon, when the temperature was about 34*F, I ran 8 miles.  I really try not to be one of those crazy runners, but let me tell you, that was one of the best things I had done all week.

Why running is fun and awesome:

1)  I feel amazing after a good workout.  Like take-on-the-world, superhero, nothing-can-stop-me amazing.

2) Running is the simplest form of exercise.  All you need are a pair of shoes, socks, and weather appropriate clothes.  Compared to cycling, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, etc., it’s so easy.

3)  The world is a beautiful place, and I appreciate it so much more when I’m on my own two feet.  Iced over brooks, crunchy leaves, ducks in the pond, sparrows darting through the trees.  Gorgeous.

4)  It’s fun to see other people (and dogs!) out and about.

5)  I am training for a half-marathon in February, and I need to stay on top of my training program.

What did you guys to this weekend to re-charge and re-create?

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Because of the holiday this week, I’m going to abridge my normal schedule.  I will post today, put up Links I Love tomorrow, post on Wednesday, and Show & Tell on Thursday.  I will post again on Monday, December 27.